This invention relates to absorbent rolls for a variety of purposes such as dental rolls and the like. As is well-known, dental rolls are used by dentists in patients' mouths for absorbing moisture and saliva. Also, dental rolls are used by dentists as spacers, i.e., to space a patient's cheek away from the tooth work area.
The principal object of this invention is to provide an absorbent roll such as a dental roll which lends itself for high speed and more economical production thereof. Further, the new dental roll is constructed so as to be as comfortable in the mouth of the patient as dental rolls presently being made by applicant's assignee. These prior art dental rolls are made in accordance with Goldman U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,901, commonly owned by applicant's assignee and which dental rolls are characterized by having relatively open braided coverings and have been widely accepted by dentists as the ultimate and top of the line in dental rolls.
A more specific object of this invention is to provide a dental roll having a covering of nonwoven fibers surrounding an absorbent body of cellulosic fibers and wherein the covering is so constructed as to have greater stretchability radially of the absorbent body than lengthwise thereof so as to resiliently maintain the body in compacted dense condition while permitting the dental rolls to readily conform to the contour of the mouth and lip of the patient, and to facilitate a dentist splitting the covering longitudinally for the purpose of expanding and exposing the body of cellulosic fibers and gaining access to bunches of the body fibers for use as small swabs or the like.